POV | 50 Minutes as a Professional Drum Tech
Waddup, dudes :) Rain? In Washington? No way! Todays Show is at Tacoma Dome. Motley Crue 1987 Tacoma Washington. Search it. This place sounds... ehhh Just like a big ole dome I guess... The only day I had to wear a jacket.
You know what time it is ;) Time to grub fr fr Guy's... I honestly dont remember if this was any good lol little baby burgs I caved today. Fight me.
Salad bar montage. Daily DC Time to get to work! It's about 1pm. Gotta get all this junk off the boat first. I'll be changing tom heads today.
This stool has come in so handy. The drummer will be signing all of these sticks today. This box is full of Remo P4's and P77's Time for some unbox thearapy. Mallet for tap tuning.
Music Nomad drum polish. Searching for the pack of moon gels I already got into. There it is. Alright little guys. Welcome to Tacoma Dome.
I always hide some drum keys in the cup holders ;) Almost forgot about my lazy susan. I was very annoyed with the barricade... I use the Music Nomad drum polish to get any dust off the bearing edge. Drum Dial makes a conditioner specifically for this.
I've yet to try it though. Let me know in the comments if you've used it before! Always check that the screws and bolts in the drum are secure before you put the new head on. This head was damaged.
It made me upset. Small rant incoming. The barricade is sooooo annoying.
Chris was annoyed as well lol The camera didn't pick it up too well, but the head was creased pretty bad. I'm just venting to you guys at this point. Barricade is driving everyone crazy haha I do this so the head seats evenly on the bearing edge. Some people will stand on the drum head.
Trying a new tuning technique out today. Essentially you just press down on the middle of the head with your finger. and tighten each tension rod until the wrinkles go away. It's supposed to get you a good ballpark tuning of the drum quickly. Lets see how this 12" DW rack tom responds to it. That ones out.
Not too bad. I can work with this. I suggest you use some good headphones or speakers for this part. I always talk about a point where the drum starts to "sing" This is what I'm talking about.
Right... Here. Notice how that one tension rod changed the tone of all the rest? Pretty cool, eh? I'm trying to get each tension rod sounding the same.
Doesn't have to be perfect, but the closer the better. And theres the little pitch bend I go for. I think this technique would be great for a beginner to start understanding how heads react to your drum key. Now lets try it with the floor tom. This head looks to be in good shape.
It sat perfectly flat. Getting each tension rod threaded a little bit. Now I make sure everything is perfectly centered. We go finger tight first.
Before we start tuning out the wrinkles. Seat that bad boy! Boop. Oh yeah. Lazy susan.
Whoops Dang. That worked pretty good! Time to start assembling. All the floor tom legs are numbered, and go to the corresponding number marked on the drum. Here I'm making sure the snares are laying even on the bottom head. Now I'm making sure everything is still snug. All cymbals are Meinl.
Luke Holland signature Baby Stack. 21" Byzance Vintage Chris Coleman C Squared Signature Ride 18" Byzance Medium Thin Crash 14" Pure Alloy Hi Hats 19" Byzance Medium Thin Crash 18" Byzance China Luke Holland signature Bullet Stack. Lets get this practice kit rippin' These are the Meinl HCS Practice Cymbals.
The pack comes with hi hats, a crash, and a ride cymbal. These are the Meinl Stick and Brush Practice pads. Three 6" ones and one 12" one. They screw onto any cymbal stand.
This is Willard in the tuxedo. Literally the funniest person I've ever met in my life. He got 5 spray tans in one day on the last day off. Don't ask. Meinl Cymbals MDPP Dynamic Pedal Pad My memory lock system wasn't working out on this kit.
We're just gonna wing it from here on out. Time to explore a little bit. Lots of reverb in here.
I downloaded some "Coffee Shop Ambiance" to fight copyright. Yes. He does use the practice kit. "Sup?" Time to stage these drums! I swear to god man. They never listen.
Sorry Mr. Post Malone. You're gonna ruin my monetization. I like the birds better than the coffee shop. Get ready to hold your breath... ...and HOLD Okay you can breathe now.
Great job again, guys. Listen to how bad the delay is in this room... Listen to the vocal. Geeeeeze Locking the risers together. No stairs yet so I gotta climb :/ I have the rug minimally mapped with black gaffers tape I like to keep the rug as clean of big spots of neon gaff tape as possible. Black doesnt show up to the crowd or pictures and video.
Although it is a little harder to see on a dark stage. Checking how the rebound feels on the snare drum. I'm positive he wants more bounce.
Just gonna give all the tension rods a little crank. This feels just about right! Super impressed with how the toms turned out with minimal fine tuning! Alright. Come with me, buddy. Time to get you centered on the stage.
This stage makes it very easy to center the drum riser. I just line it up with the decks underneath, and BAM! Gotta make sure it looks good still. And from this angle. Lookin' good, JT! Bolting the stairs to the riser. Finger tight will do. I like to announce that I'm going to be loud if people are close to the drums.
Don't want to scare anyone. Snare feels good, but I want to bring the tone down a bit. So I tune the two horizontal lugs down a half turn at a time.
I like the way this tom sounds today, but theres some resonance I need to get rid of. So I slap a Moon Gel on it. Fight me. I'll even slap a second on ;) I want all attack and no resonance.
The stick definition is much more clear now. Almost forgot to add the cowbell to the party. Can't have that now, can we? You know when you're sifting through reverb presets... and you click on the "arena" one? Thats what this room is. Any ways... let's line check. Listen to that tail...
It swells like crazy. Monitor Engineer -"Is that snare mic pointing where it normally is?" It's not! Good ear, Kyle! Must have been a glitch in the matrix, because i didn't play "In Bloom"... Both guitar techs are just ripping in their own world in my in ears. So I yell at them lol Just playing in a totally different tempo... haha Makes it so hard to play. 50 minutes until doors are opened to the public.
Time for the crew jam. Our backline team can shred, so the front of house and monitor engineers have us play a song. The band trusts the crew to have everything perfect, so they don't sound check. The monitor engineer needed some more kick.
The slap back is real. You can hear it bouncing all over the room. "Blacking out the kit" I just use a black bed sheet from Walmart. "HoW cAn YoU sUpPoRt WaLmArT!?!?" Dinner :) Checked out Kim Dracula from "Front of House" today.
I also wanted to hear how the room sounded now that people have arrived. The sound will change dramatically once there's bodies in the room. Usually for the better. Set change! The house music was very prominent today. We'll be listening to birds durring most of this. I don't want a copyright strike. The chess board is a prop for Kim Dracula.
So many questions about it on the last video lol Hello :) Time for the big unveiling The reason everyone is here. TADA! Quick line check to make sure everything still works. The toms sound even better after sitting. This is rare.
Making sure the fan has power. Here I'm grabbing the pedals off the practice kit. They're also my backup pair, so I like to have them close incase disaster strikes. They'll live here during the show.
This is the singers "talk back" mic. We also put his set list and waters on this little table. I hope the birds are chill. I don't really have a choice here, lol Tripple checking to make sure everything is tight and secure. Now I'll make sure everything is good with the pedals.
The drummer texted me and asked to raise his throne about an inch. 3 minutes to show! Time to get into position. GO FOR SHOW!!! Not sure whats going on with the lights there. Letting the whole intro play for the full experience.
The drummer and drum tech fist bump is sacred. Time to shred Luke - "The mix sounds so bassy." Time to get off the stage as fast and as safe as humanly possible.
I have a little time before the it's my turn with the fork lift. So I'm strapping some stands down. I already removed the shells from the stands to lower the chance of anything tipping over.
Hey Rammstein. Dare you to try and claim this video. We'll see what my birds have to say about that. Chumps. Looks like it's our turn.
There goes my hero... Nailed it. Kinda weird i'm helping with audio gear... Pffff what was I thinking? Im outta here lol Okay, this should be the last of the birds.
It was super dark durring tear down. Most of the footage was unusable Maybe I'll invest in a little light for my GoPro for the next tour. The next tour I'm on starts in January of 2024 We're direct support to Disturbed. Should be SICK So if you haven't already please SUBSCRIBE! Next year is going to be huge for this channel. Trust me ;) For now I'll send you guys off while tearing down the practice kit. Weeeeeeee Weeeeeeee Thank you guys for watching! It means the world! Go learn something about the drums today! See ya next time!
2023-11-16 00:41
